Athletics News

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The volunteer segment of the Ram Club fundraising effort officially begins with the Ram Club Drive Kickoff Celebration on Tuesday night from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Stonehouse Grille.

The celebration will feature complementary appetizers, the coaches of several CSU sports in attendance and a brief program about the Ram Club Drive process, featuring a CSU head coach as a guest speaker.

The Ram Club is a group of alumni, friends and fans that provide scholarship support for student-athletes at CSU. The kickoff event is only for those who have volunteered to fundraise for the Ram Club, but there is still time for anyone interested in attending the event to contact Dan Johnston at 970/491-7291 for more information about how to become a volunteer.

Softball to host three home games After having its doubleheader against Northern Colorado postponed last weekend due to weather, the Colorado State softball team should finally play a home game this week, with three games on the docket. The Rams kickoff conference play as well this week, as they play host to Brigham Young (23-14) on Thursday at 3 p.m. and then face Utah (13-19) twice, once on Friday at 3 p.m. and again on Saturday at 1 p.m.

CSU (16-17) has played every game this season away from Ram Field, but will be looking to use the home-field advantage to get off to a quick start in conference play this weekend. Admission is free for all home CSU softball games.

Outdoor track and fieldFresh off a busy weekend that saw the CSU team split up to attend three meets, the Colorado State track team will make the short trip to Greeley for the Tom Benich Classic at the University of Northern Colorado Saturday.

The bulk of the Rams’ squad stayed home in Fort Collins last weekend, competing at the Rob Upton Invitational at Jack Christiansen Track. Just two days after a blizzard blanketed the track with snow, the meet was still able to go on, and CSU excelled with five athletes picking up first-place finishes.

CSU also sent athletes to the Arizona State Invitational and the Stanford Invitational in order to face the stiff competition that each meet offered. The strategy paid off at Arizona State, as the Rams had three athletes achieve regional-qualifying marks. The qualifiers were Alex Godell (61.16 meters) and Leah Elmshauser (55.04) in the hammer throw and Jason Smith (14.78 meters) in the triple jump. Smith’s jump was good for a first-place finish. Meagan Berg, who previously regionally qualified, hit the mark again with a throw of 55.71 meters to finish seventh in the hammer throw.

Women's tennisThe CSU women’s tennis team will look to carry its momentum from a non-conference win over Weber State on Saturday into two conference duals this weekend. CSU will head to Colorado Springs to take on San Diego State on Saturday and UNLV on Sunday.

The Rams’ 5-2 win over Weber State came after CSU (5-8, 0-2 MWC) dropped two road matches against nationally ranked conference opponents Brigham Young and Utah. CSU will be looking to even its record in conference play if it can sweep the weekend.

Men's golfThe Colorado State men’s golf team will have to wait a little longer to get back to its winning ways, as this week’s Shocker Classic at Wichita State was cancelled due to a snow storm.

The Rams have won five tournaments already this season, tied for the single-season record for a CSU team, but they will have to wait another week until the Thunderbird Invitational for a chance to break the record. The tournament tees off April 10-11 and is hosted by Arizona State in Phoenix, Ariz.

A high note for the Rams was the selection of Dustin Morris as the Golf World College Player of the Week for the week of March 16 through March 22. Morris battled through an illness to shoot a 13-under-par 203 at Barona Creek Golf Course, including a season-low closing round of 66, to beat New Mexico's Steve Saunders by three strokes. The win was the second in Morris’ career, as he captured the Agua-Caliente Collegiate Invitational title as a sophomore last season.

Women's golf The Colorado State women’s golf team finished up its regular season with a busy week, playing six rounds of golf in six days.

The Rams started with a season-best second-place finish at the BYU Dixie Classic in St. George, Utah, on Wednesday, before placing seventh at the MountainView Invitational in Tucson, Ariz., on Sunday.

The Rams were paced at the Dixie Classic by junior Natalie Stone and freshman Brianna Espinoza, as each posted career-best finishes, grabbing a share of fourth and finishing seventh, respectively. At the MountainView, senior Stefanie Ferguson led the Rams with a three-round total of 223, good for 26th place, while junior Kasey Claussen and freshman Melissa Martin finished tied for 27th, one stroke behind Ferguson with a total of 224.

Water polo Following almost two weeks without a game, the CSU women’s water polo team will get back into the pool for four games this weekend. The Rams (13-12, 8-2 Western Water Polo Association) will travel to Santa Clara, Calif., to take on Santa Clara, Cal State Bakersfield, UC San Diego and Cal State San Bernardino.

This weekend will be the final regular-season contests for Colorado State, before conference tournament play begins April 24.

CSU is currently riding a four-game winning streak after sweeping its games at the Cal Baptist Tournament in Riverside, Calif., March 24-25. A large part of that success was the play of CSU goalkeeper Krystyna McCright, who was named conference Player of the Week after she made 42 saves (10.5 avg.) and nine steals while leading the Rams to four wins.

Football Spring football practices will continue this week, as the Rams have begun sporting pads and going live in practice. The first week of football saw weather change the practice schedule, but this week the Rams look to get back to Head Coach Steve Fairchild’s original schedule with practices on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The Rams are planning on having scrimmages each Saturday at Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium, before finally concluding with the spring game on April 18.